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The Relationship Between The Euro And The Euro

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Germany is part of the Eurozone consisting of 19 states of the European Union, which also includes Austria, Estonia, Cyprus, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, France, Slovakia, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland. The official currency of the Eurozone is the Euro which is issued through the European Central Bank. (Wikipedia, 2017) In 2002 all the old currencies of the states of the Eurozone were discontinued and today the Euro is rated as a major reserve currency along with the Japanese Yen, US Dollar, British Pound and Swiss Franc. (Oanda, 2017) The exchange rate is very important to a multinational company. Exchange rate is the price of foreign currency stated in terms of domestic …show more content…

For a retail customer who deposits 100,000 they can see a fee of 400 just for the privilege of storing their cash. Bigger German banks have also considered the same route, yet have not pulled the trigger so far. The larger banks have already passed on negative rates through to their institutional clients. There is a growing concern that customers will start withdrawing funds and storing them elsewhere. (International Banker, 2016) This negative interest rate environment represents the decline in strength of the German banking system which has been trending extremely little profitability. In 2016, according to the European Banking Authority (EBA), Germany ranked third from the bottom within the rankings of the EU with a trifling 2.6% return on equity within the first quarter. The EBA conducted a stress test that unveiled 4 out of the top 10 biggest deficits in capital strengths belonged to the country’s lenders. The German Banking System is the most fragmented in the Eurozone. There are so many banks competing for market share that profitability is negligible for the biggest lenders and spread out among a large number of banks in the country. The five largest banks in Germany only make up 32% of the market share. Negative rates are forecasted to stay put for the foreseeable future while the European economy and inflation remain weak. The ECB’s negative interest rate policy has cost banks in the European Region 2.64 Billion Euro so far. (International

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